The Dust Yards
by blurredfrenzy
Summary: Waking up on a different continent to the one she was knocked out on, and separated from the others, Lilith must fight for survival and uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearances in the DustYards.
1. Chapter 1 (Dark Place)

**Howdy y'all. Welcome to mah authors notes. I am still organising my storm hawks fanfic and while I take a break from it to gather my ideas together I decided to have a go at writing some borderlands. I won't spam you with crap like plz rate lololol but it would still be appreciated. Like my other story this one starts quite darkly but will lighten up in the second chapter so don't be put off.**

**This is set during the events of borderlands, before the finding of the vault, and there are a few changes to the Borderlands universe:**

**Lilith isn't in a relationship with Roland, they are just good friends**

**Lilith doesn't activate a phase blast when going in and out of phasewalk, it is a separate ability that she can choose to trigger at any time (although it drains her stamina, like phasewalk)**

**Borderlands 2 weapons, grenade mods, shields, vehicles will be used instead of the ones found in the first game because I know the models and properties better**

**Pandora's days, nights and calendar are the same length as ours (****to keep things simple****)**

**Chapter 1**

**Dark Place**

She woke suddenly, pain snapping her back to reality. She could feel something in her upper arm and begun shaking and thrashing, trying to break free of the bonds that held her tight. A hand grabbed her red hair and forcefully dragged her head back; exposing her neck to a long, thin needle that looked like it had a lot of mileage. It pushed deep into her neck, stinging as it did so, until she began to feel tired. Her vision blurred as she struggled to make out the distorted silhouettes standing around the operating table, injecting her with all manner of chemicals and cutting away at her flesh in several places with primitive, unclean tools from a small table. Her last feeling was of intense agony as she finally succumbed to the sedative and fell unconscious.

She woke again, her nerves screaming at her to fall back into a deep sleep and end the pain. She was still strapped to a table but this time she wasn't being operated on. She was being moved through the facility by 2 people in bloodied surgical gowns. Blue latex masks covered their faces, not that she would be able to see anyway with her blurring vision.

She could see enough in the dim light to notice the walls were made of stone and had cobwebs and dust coating them. Cracks formed labyrinths across them and chunks of wall lay in crumbling piles at the floor, swept off the path but not removed. The floor was full of holes and cracks, making the process of wheeling her surgical table to another part of the facility a difficult and bumpy process.

She was constantly jolted forwards then pulled back by her bonds, prompting a sharp agony each time.

Through her few, brief moments of consciousness she could just make out rows of cells with people in them and open doorways leading to blood splattered rooms and screaming surgery victims. Trails of blood stained the ground where surgery victims like her were moved across the facility. People lay on blood and vomit stained beds, tables and stretchers as doctors experimented on them, only using anaesthetic when they wouldn't stay still enough, like her.

Leaking pipes ran along the ceiling, dripping water into puddles that formed beneath them. Not everyone was being experimented on. Some sat in their cells, tied to their beds while distorted figures mutilated them for information regarding places where more people could be found. Others, all of them weak looking, were being executed. Maybe they weren't considered strong enough to be experimented on. Maybe the doctor's sadism didn't end with human experimentation. None were just shot or killed quickly. Some were cut and left to bleed out, some were skinned, some were burned, and some were corroded with acid.

_Who would do these things?_

Noticing her looking around one of the men moving her grabbed her red hair, pulled her head up, and slammed it down against the metal table, knocking her unconscious again.

Once again she awoke. This time in a dark, claustrophobic cell. The walls here cold stone, as was the floor and, as far as she knew, the ceiling. To her left was a bed stained with vomit and blood, revealing she wasn't the first in the cell. That was the only thing other than her in the cell.

She attempted to pick herself up off the cold, hard ground but didn't have enough strength. She looked down and inspected herself. Her lower right arm was tightly wrapped in an unclean, blood soaked bandage. She was still wearing her trousers. At least the surgeons hadn't taken all her clothes off, just her top. Her jacket lay next to her on the floor, tears and rips showing signs of age. She was still wearing her red top, although the front had been ripped open. Her bra was still in place, thank god, but was exposed until she could do something about her attire. She put her jacket back on and suddenly felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder. Taking it back off and investigating she found a hole that had been stitched back up. Looking at it she remembered something.

_Bullets screaming across the icy battlefield._

_Bandits being pushed back out of camp._

_High civilian casualties._

_Exiting phasewalk among bandit gunners._

_All dead except one._

_Spin to the side with SMG, hitting him in the neck with a burst._

_He falls, firing in his last moments._

_Shield breaks, shot to the shoulder and two to the stomach._

Lilith looked down at her stomach, seeing two more bullet wounds. She felt them and realised that the pain had been the surgeons removing the bullets with pliers. Then she remembered something else.

_Bullets flying, bandits in full retreat._

_Collapse to one knee, clutching stomach._

_Look up, distorted figure brings down stock of his SMG._

_Everything goes black._

"So that's how I got here" Lilith muttered to herself.

_Well, I'm not staying_

Lilith forced herself to stand up and waited a few moments while a wave of dizziness and nausea passed. Then she focused all her remaining strength, which wasn't a lot, and entered phasewalk.

Or, at least she tried.

Nothing happened. She was still very much in the same dimension she was in moments ago.

"No" She couldn't come to terms with it.

"No, no, no" Never before had phasewalk failed.

"Shit" She stumbled backwards and sat on the blood stained bed.

She sat there for a few minutes, her head pounding. The headache that had been lingering in the back of her mind suddenly made its presence much more known.

After sitting in blood and despair for a few minutes longer she reasoned that it was just because she was weak. She was out of energy so maybe she wasn't strong enough. After convincing herself of this she sat back, avoiding the vomit stain and most of the blood, and tried to get some rest.

Her efforts proved futile when the screaming increased in volume.

"Poor bastards"

Then the screaming came from several more places, and more. Lilith grew confused as all around her screaming began.

"what the…"

A wave of blood sprayed across the floor of the corridor outside the cell and several prisoners ran past, holding various pieces of surgeon in their hands. More and more ran past and alarms began to sound.

_A riot, just what I need_

Lilith ran stumbled towards the bars and hit them, waiting for one of the crazed rioters to notice her. She waited a while; they were too busy dismembering the surgeons limb by limb.

She was about to give up all hope of escaping when a not-too-psychotic prisoner stopped by her cell bars.

"Lemme get that for ya" he said as he begun hacking at the bars with an improvised axe made from several scalpels forced into a metal pipe. His axe broke but so did one of the bars.

Bending it down so Lilith could squeeze through he departed without another word. Lilith managed to just fit through, her breasts making the process much more difficult, and headed down the gloomy corridor as fast as she could. At the end of the corridor she climbed a large flight of stairs.

_Must be underground_

Blood, limbs and lifeless bodies lay scattered across the floor of every room she entered. Most of the bodies were those of surgeons, although there test subjects had suffered plenty of casualties.

Entering one of the surgery rooms Lilith retched at the sight before her. Several surgery tables were spread around the room, some turned over. Blood, bones organs and removed limbs were strewn across the floor. There were many corpses, but some of the bodies were still living. Surgeons and their assistants lay on the floor missing limbs or large patches of skin, drowning in a mixture of their own and other's blood. Subjects dragged themselves towards a closed door with their arms having had their legs cut off.

"FFFUUUCCCKKK!" A crazed prisoner wielding a shiv fashioned from a scalpel and some cloth ran at Lilith.

As he thrust the shiv forward, Lilith stepped to the side and caught him in the ribs with a right hook. He stumbled but regained his balance in a moment, although not soon enough as Lilith brought her left fist into his nose.

"ARGH!" he cried and stumbled back, clutching his bleeding nose. She had plenty of time to finish him but she didn't. Lilith just stood and stared at her hand and noticed for the first time that her tattoos were much fainter than they once were. She had told herself it was because she was weak, but she'd recovered a lot since then and she'd used her phaseblast at times when she had been weaker than this before.

_Why aren't my powers working?_

She never noticed the crazed subject charge towards her and ram the shiv into her stomach.

"Aagghh" She cried out as blood leaked from the wound. The psycho pulled out the shiv and swung it across at her face. She jumped back and was rewarded with a cut lip, as opposed to a whole in her face.

"Agh"

Lilith raised her fist as the crazed subject ran at her again. This time she grabbed his wrist, twisted it until he dropped the shiv, caught it in her other hand, and brought it up into the side of his neck.

"GLEURGH" he gurgled as he choked on his own blood.

Lilith left the shiv there and stumbled towards the door, unable to run with the shiv wound.

_I've ran with worse wounds than this_

Lilith stopped and inspected it. She couldn't run because a piece of the damaged scalpel blade had broken off and was embedded in her.

"Fuck"

She continued towards the door, stopping as she heard a new sound; gunfire. The screams, previously settled down, began again as gunfire could be heard very close by.

_Wondered where the security was_

Lilith quickly grabbed the door handle and turned it, noticing the lock had been broken. She took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and stepped out into blinding light.


	2. Chapter 2 (Freedom)

**Chapter 2**

**Freedom**

She slowly opened her eyes and took in the world around her. Sand. Sand and rock. Everywhere Lilith looked all she could see was sand and rocks. The sun glared down upon her as she lay, unmoving, in the middle of a desert. She had little stamina left and it continued to bleed away in the unbelievable heat. When she tried to move she had to drag herself along; she lacked the energy to stand.

She reached out and tried to pull herself further, but it was hopeless. Every time she tried to move she sent pain shooting through her nerves as the stitching on her bullet wounds came undone and the wounds, along with her scalpel cut, filled with gritty sand.

_Can't go any further_

Lying there, helpless, in the middle of a colossal expanse of sand dotted with the occasional rock Lilith gave up. She briefly recalled stumbling across the desert, and something about an underground facility.

She could hear something. It sounded like an engine, heading closer and closer to her.

"Shit" she managed, with her face half buried in the sand.

The engine went from a loud roar to a deep growl. Sand was thrown up in the air, landing largely on her, as the vehicle came to a stop.

Lilith turned her head, still half buried in the sand, to look up at a black silhouette against the harsh, yellow glare of the sun. The figure bent down and looked at her carefully before reaching down and grabbing her arm, carefully avoiding a nasty cut.

_Shit_

He bent over her and reached his other arm, the left one, down under her stomach.

"Agh"

He let go immediately and grabbed her other arm, pulling her to her unsteady feet. As soon as he let go Lilith fell towards him and he caught her.

"Aww, shit" he muttered as he half dragged-half carried Lilith back to his bandit technical.

The vehicle was painted dark red, with 2 black racing stripes (one wide, one thin) across the bonnet and floor of the rear truck bed. The vehicle had no turret or gunner seat, instead having a passenger seat. There was a green DAHL loot chest welded to the floor of the truck bed, beside the back of the cab.

"Come on, up ya get"

The man lifted Lilith up into the passenger seat, on the left side of the cab, with some difficulty. It wasn't that she was heavy, she wasn't, but the metal bars designed to stop people falling out also made life more awkward when trying to get in.

Now that Lilith was sitting comfortably in the chair, or as comfortably as you can be with multiple sand-filled cuts, amnesia and an extremely bad headache, the mysterious bandit jumped into the driver seat, revved the engine and charged off across the desert. Everything seemed to blur into one outside the cab of the speeding bandit technical, or at least it did in Lilith's eyes.

"Ugh" she groaned as the terrain grew bumpy and she was knocked around the cab.

"Hang tight, I'll get ya to the nearest town" the generous bandit said, attempting to convince the injured woman he had just found dying in the middle of the desert that everything would be k.

The terrain smoothed out and Lilith fell into a deep sleep.

_Dark, damp, cold walls,_

_Blood, flesh and bone tortured,_

_Screaming, agonising cries in the dim light,_

_No escape._

"AAGGHH" Lilith screamed as she woke from her nightmare and bolted upright, gripping the metal bars to her left. Her eyes were fearful, scanning her surroundings for any sign of needles or scalpels.

"Holy shit" The bandit exclaimed, almost losing control of the technical.

"Ya awright?"

Lilith let go of the bars, sank back into her seat, and looked at the man's concerned face. He had quite smooth skin with heavy stubble around his lower face. He showed little signs of age and his smallish eyebrows were a light brown, barely darker than the rest of his medium toned skin. His eyes were a deep blue and looked at Lilith in a worried way.

"I, I…"

"Take a deep breath and take it real slow, awright"

Lilith's breathing was heavy as she gradually calmed down. Eventually she was calm enough to talk.

"I'm o-okay-y" Her voice was shaky and it took her a few more minutes to calm down enough to talk calmly.

"Awright. So, ya gonna be tellin me how ya 'all ended up back there?" The bandit was inquisitive and something in his voice made Lilith feel she could trust him. That and the fact he had saved her life, although no doubt he was looking for some kind of reward.

"I, um…" Lilith didn't know how to put it. I escaped from a top secret underground lab where people were being experimented on didn't sound very convincing. But that wasn't everything. As she slowly regained her senses more and more memories resurfaced fell into place. But she still couldn't remember much of what happened, other than the basic outline.

"Amnesia. Don't worry bout it. We get to Knifepoint, y' all get cleaned up…"

Lilith looked down at herself. Her hair was full of sand and, like her clothes, was stained with vomit and blood. She had multiple cuts coated in sand over her stomach and arms. She was a mess.

"…an then everythin will fall into place"

They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, although it seemed like an eternity. Lilith watched the endless expanse of desert outside the technical while the bandit driving it focused on not hitting any rocks.

"Thanks, by the way" Lilith suddenly said, seemingly out of now where.

"You know, for rescuing me"

The bandit looked at her for a moment then turned back to face the way he was driving.

"Think nothin of it, couldn't jus leave ya out here. By the way, ya never did tell me ya name?"

Lilith looked at him blankly for a moment before regaining her grip on reality.

"Lilith. The names Lilith"

"Jake Summers"

They sat in silence for once again for the next few seconds.

"So, Lilith, what you doin round these parts? I know ya got some of that amnesia but ya gotta remember somethin, right?"

Lilith seemed deep in thought for a moment before replying.

"I don't know"

"Amnesia that bad huh?"

"I know the basic outline, just waiting on the details"

"Well I'm sure they'll be comin back to ya when we get to Knifepoint"

Lilith waited a few seconds while she came up with a suitable way to continue their conversation.

"So, what are you doing round here?"

"Well, that's helluva story. But I s'ppose we got time"

He took a deep breath before beginning.

"I don't know where I started. All I know is a group of bandits found me when I was jus 3. They weren't no murderers. Raiders, yeah, but not murderers. Anyways, when I was 18 a rival clan attacked us cos our camp was sittin right on top a deposit of steel. They lost the battle, but we suffered heavy casualties. There weren't no way in hell we could hold out against another attack. So we became nomadic. We travelled around as mercenaries and sometimes we'd help people for free ya know, when they couldn't afford us and was desperate. By time I was 30 we'd tripled in size. Then we heard bout a crimson lance assault on a nearby town. Figured that weren't really fair so we tried to fight em off. We tried to chase them but they wouldn't give ground. After 2 hours fightin, a 7 hour stalemate, and another 3 hours of fightin it went to last man standing. Don't know made that town so valuable but the lance sure wanted it bad. But they didn't get it. We won. We beat the lance"

Lilith was shocked. A group of nomadic mercenaries stopped a crimson lance invasion. And they didn't just win, they wiped out the strike force.

"Wow. You must have fought hard"

"I did. We all did. Every single one of us. We put everything we had into that fight and what did we get? Nothing. I was being literal when I said it went to last man standing. I was the only survivor. I'd known some of them my almost my entire life. They raised me, and those fucking bastards killed them. They cut them down without thinking twice"

"I, I'm sorry" was all Lilith could manage.

"Don't be. You had no part in it"

Jake paused briefly.

"The town still stands, ya know. They made a cemetery specifically for my clan. Haven't been there in at least 2 years"

The rest of the journey, all 2 hours of it, was silent. Both Lilith and Jake were lost in thought. Jake broke the silence when they arrived at Knifepoint.

"We're here"

Both passengers disembarked. Jake headed to the back of the technical and opened the green DAHL crate. Inside were 2 large piles of dollars and a Vladof assault rifle. The rifle had a clean, light brown wood finish covering the gunmetal. The magazine was long, holding 45 sizeable bullets, and the weapon featured a skeleton stock. The barrel was long, with a second shorter, sealed rod underneath for increased durability. The weapon had no scope attached. Attached to it was a sling for easy storage.

Jake picked it up, slung it over his shoulder then emptied the money from the container. Stuffing it into his pockets he sealed the crate and walked back over to Lilith.

"Y'all okay to walk?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine"

"Come on then"

Jake led them to a motel on the edge of town, which they had parked next to, and walked inside. Approaching the attendant behind her desk, Jake pulled out a few dollar bills.

"Room for 2. Access to a private bathroom, with a shower, and 2 separate beds"

"Um, okay"

The attendant searched the register for a vacant room matching the specifications.

"Room 31 is available. It has the only private access to a bathroom with a shower currently available"

"We'll take it"

"One problem, sir"

Jake raised an eyebrow.

"It has a double bed"

Jake silently cursed before turning to Lilith.

"Only priva…"

"I heard. What other option have we got?"

Jake turned back to the attendant.

"We'll take it"

"Excellent, 50 dollars sir"

Jake handed over the cash and the attendant handed over the key. Walking beside Lilith up the small flight of stairs, down the long corridor, and to their room Jake twisted the key in the lock. With a faint click the door opened and they entered.

The room was small. At the far end, opposite the door, was a window with curtains drawn over. To the left was a TV on some drawers and in the right corner, against the wall with the entrance, was the door leading to the bathroom. The bed faced the TV and there was about 1 metre between the side of the bed and the window, 1 metre between the foot of the bed and the drawers, and 4 metres between the left side of the bed and the door.

Lilith took a towel from the drawers and entered the bathroom without a word. The doors lock was strategically placed on the inside and she didn't hesitate to use it. The bathroom was small, with a shower cubicle to the right, a toilet facing the door, and a sink to the left. The walls were white tiles, or at least they use to be. Time had cracked and dulled them. They were now very much grey.

Above the sink was a mirror, which Lilith immediately walked up to. He examined herself and instantly regretted it. Her clothes were stained with vomit and a lot of blood. Her hair, even more so. Everything was coated in a layer of gritty sand. The stitches were coming undone on her wounds.

"Fuck" she managed.

Wasting no time Lilith took to the shower. She left her stained clothes on the floor and stepped in.

The hot water felt great. After all the difficulty of the past day Lilith could feel all the stress just wash off her, along with the vomit and dried blood. Her wounds stung, but felt infinitely cleaner and less likely to become infected.

She must have been in the shower a good 20 minutes when she finally emerged. Drying off in the bathroom she emerged into the room clad in a towel slightly too small.

Jake tried not to look, or at least not look like he was looking, at Lilith. With her slim figure and sizeable assets he found the task extremely challenging.

"I need new clothes" Lilith said, somewhat suddenly.

"Erm"

Jake wasn't sure how to respond.

"If I knew your sizes I could pick some up in town for ya"

Lilith gave him a look that said something along the lines of fuck off. After a few awkward seconds of this she finally gave in. Sure, here. She checked the drawers for paper and a pen, finding exactly what she needed. Quickly writing down her sizes she passed Jake the paper. He made a half-assed attempt to wave as he headed out the door, nearly missing it, scanning the note in hope of some indication of her bra size. He disappointingly found nothing.

A short while later Jake returned with a new set of clothes for Lilith. Miraculously he had managed to find a set that matched her old clothes, albeit without the stains and damage.

"Um, here" Jake said as he offered her the attire.

Lilith thanked him and headed into the bathroom to change. She emerged a few minutes later with her old clothes, dropped them in the bin, and sat on the bed. Jake took a seat next to her.

"About how I ended up in that desert"

Lilith was cut off by the sound of gunfire. A lot of it.


	3. Chapter 3 (Tip Of The Knife)

**Chapter 3**

**Tip of the Knife**

The gunfire grew in volume, becoming almost deafening. Jake readied his Vladof rifle and headed down the corridor, Lilith following just behind him. At the reception the attendant was cowering below her desk, silently praying for the gunfire to end.

_Bandits_ Lilith thought.

Jake signalled to move into the street after checking out the situation. The gunfire was coming from somewhere to the right. Shouts could now also be heard amidst the chaos.

Jake turned to Lilith after they took cover behind a large bin.

"What's our next move? He asked, not sounding the least bit scared.

"Well, first I'm gonna need a gun, then we need a way outta here"

"We can't just leave the town to these bandits"

Lilith looked deep in thought for a moment.

"Then I'm gonna need 2 guns"

The duo advanced from their hiding place and headed towards the sounds of fighting. If they could fight off the bandits the people will be safe, Jake thought.

_If we fight off the bandits then maybe we'll be rewarded_ thought Lilith.

Nearing the fighting they noticed quite a few civilians wielding all manner of weapons, from rusting pistols to camouflaged assault rifles. They were also losing the fight. The bandits swept through the outer defences with ease and hit deep. The civilian militia couldn't hold them. It was too poorly organised.

The sheriff sat behind a crumbling wall, clutching a Jakobs revolver. The wood was un-faded and the metal was shiny.

"KEEP EM SUPPRESSED!" he yelled to his poorly trained forces.

"STOP EM ADVANCING!"

A pair of bandits jumped from cover and sprayed a hail of bullets towards the militia. The sheriff calmly stepped from cover and picked them both off with clean headshots, in the space of 3 seconds.

_At least someone can fight around here_

"FALL BACK, FIND THE BOSS!" one of the bandits shouted to his comrades as they fell back to the streets.

Wasting no time Lilith ran over to the corpses of the 2 bandits. Grabbing their weapons she inspected them carefully. One was a pistol, DAHL manufacture, with desert camo and no additional attachments. The other weapon was an SMG. It was hard to tell who originally made it, but it was painted dark red and had 2 magazines protruding from just behind the handle, one on each side. Realising she lacked one Lilith looted the bandit's pistol holster and then worked on figuring out how to hold the awkward SMG.

"HEY, you two"

Jake and Lilith turned to face the sheriff.

"You helpin or what?"

Jake was about to offer their support when Lilith stepped in.

"What's in it for us?"

"Well young lady, there's a bounty of $10,000 on the head of Crump, the bandit leader"

"Then I'm in"

"Good. We need all the help we can get right about now. I got bandits comin outta my ass over here"

"Point us in the direction of Crump"

"Goin for the head are ya? Not a bad idea. He was last sighted setting up a fallback point at the motel"

"Thanks" Lilith and Jake walked off in that direction.

"Careful, though. He's a tough customer, and odds are if he's there, most the bandits will be as well"

"Good"

Jake and Lilith crept through the alleys to avoid the odd bandit. If they could sneak up on crump and his underlings they could hopefully take him out quickly. If guns were fired then that wouldn't happen.

_Hope my powers work_

Lilith and Jake approached the car park beside the motel. Hiding behind a concrete barrier they observed the bandits. The park was empty save for their technical and the bandits were inspecting it, thinking what a fine addition it would be to their vehicle department. The bandits were dressed in the standard way, jackets, masks and varying kinds of trousers. They carried mostly low quality guns and there were only 4, excluding the bear of a man that they assumed to be Crump. They assumed correctly.

Crump stood at 6'5" and wore brown military boots, no doubt looted. He covered his lower body with dark red work overalls. His torso was garbed in a tattered white vest with the words 'teh bawss' scribbled on it in black marker pen. He covered his face with goggles. The goggles had yellow lenses and a black cloth hanging down, covering the rest of his face, and going back to cover the back of his head. On the front of the cloth, over his face, was a crudely painted red skull. He carried an assault rifle. It was painted dark red with a leering shark mouth on the barrel. The rifle had a DAHL barrel, a bandit body and stock, used the basic iron sights, and utilized a 100 round drum mag. The words 'bloodied rampage' were scribbled on the side of the body in the same manner as the writing on his tattered vest.

"That's gotta be our guy" Jake whispered.

"Then let's do this" Lilith replied quietly.

They both vaulted over the concrete barrier and quickly gunned down the 4 bandits wandering aimlessly. Then they trained their sights on Crump.

He turned slowly, raising his weapon as he did so.

**CRUMP**

YO DAWG I HEARD YOU LIKE DYING

"I'MA FUCK YA UP!" Crump roared in a deep, rather angry voice as he began spraying with his machine gun. Lilith and Jake jumped back behind the concrete barrier as Crump harried them with a barrage of high velocity, steel core rounds. They dug deep into the concrete, threatening to break through, and bit chunks from the edges.

"Fuck, this guy's dynamite" Jake complained from behind his quickly diminishing cover.

"If I can phasewalk over there" Lilith pointed to a dumpster beside the motels wall.

"Then I can take him out from behind"

"Ya sure?"

"Trust me"

Jake nodded and sat back while Lilith prepared herself. She focused her mind and sprinted from cover towards the dumpster.

She noticed 2 things that were wrong; she was moving at her normal speed and Crump was firing at her, meaning he could see her.

_Fuck, it's not working_

"AAGGH, FUCK!" Lilith reached the dumpster, but fell to the ground with a round in her outer thigh.

Jake was confused. Lilith had assured him she knew what she was doing, but things obviously hadn't gone to plan. Nevertheless, he wasn't still alive because he missed opportunities, because he didn't. Rising from cover he sprayed 7 bullets at the distracted, and still very angry, Crump.

3 missed and the other 4 were absorbed by the shield they hadn't realised he was wearing.

"Oh for fucks sake" Jake sank back into cover as Crump gave him his undivided attention.

Meanwhile Lilith inspected her bullet wound. No doubt it could still cause a lot of damage if she started moving with it still in her leg, and it would be uncomfortable too.

_Fuck my life_

She set down her SMG and prepared herself. Reaching down with her fingers she carefully slid them into the wound and got a grip on the bullet. After a few seconds of getting over the initial pain she pulled. Hard. The bullet came free, but the pain reached searing agony. Luckily it subsided within seconds, before she cried out. Climbing to her feet and retrieving her ill-gotten SMG she took careful aim, or as careful as you could be with bandit iron sights, at Crump.

_Shield_

His belt went through a loop in the shield. The blue hexagon in the centre told Lilith that it was powerful. The various add-ons also told Lilith something, something very important indeed. It was a nova.

_Shit_

Crump was close to breaking through the concrete barrier when he suddenly stopped.

"Huh?" It took him a moment to realise he needed to reload. When he realised this he quickly begun the lengthy process of removing the drum mag, finding another, slotting it into place, feeding the bullets into the chamber, and securing the compartment firmly down.

Throwing a Tediore grenade at the barrier to keep Jake suppressed he quickly began the complicated procedure.

Lilith took her chance and leaned out of cover to spray bullets in his direction. 10 shots fired, 5 hit, and his shield was still up.

Burst firing to preserve the SMG's precious little accuracy Lilith begun to wear down his shields until the sound of a power failure could be heard.

"RRRGGGHHH!" Crump roared and threw his second grenade at Lilith. Ducking behind the dumpster she quickly replaced one of her SMG mags, waiting for an explosion.

Lilith then looked down to her left.

_Fuck!_

She jumped to her feet and ran as the Tediore grenade detonated nearby her. As a poorly looked-after Tediore weapon, the blast was small and weak. It did, however, throw Lilith through the air, spin her around, and drop her 3 metres away from her original position on her back.

"AAGGH…" Lilith was cut short when she felt a sudden pain in her mouth.

Glass and shrapnel lay scattered around her, and blood leaked from her mouth. Quite a lot of it.

Jake climbed to his feet after being thrown off them by the sudden grenade blast on the other side of the barrier. Concrete rubble lay all around and over him, and there was no cover left. Looking at Crump he noticed a strange, orange glow on his normally blue shield. Then a huge wave of fire erupted in a circle around Crump, travelling 3 metres before dissipating. A blackened circle marked the floor and stopped, millimetres away from where Lilith lay, and where he stood.

"BURY YA WITH THE REST!" Crump yelled as he took aim at Jake. Jake raised his Vladof rifle and realised, to his horror, that there was no magazine inserted.

He stood, wide eyed in shock and terror, as Crump pulled the trigger.

There was a loud bang.

Jake didn't look at himself to see the damage; he hadn't been hit. He knew this instantly as he remembered Crumps trigger-happy tactics. Only one bullet was fired. He calmly reloaded and walked up to Crump, who was holding a shaking hand to his throat, blood pouring from between his fingers.

Blood poured down his front from behind his cloth mask, behind which many gurgling noises were also coming.

"Fu…cki…ng"

Crump staggered forwards, still clutching his throat.

"Bas…tards"

Crump fell to the ground, dead, in a growing pool of his own blood.

Jake turned to see Lilith lying on the ground, blood leaking from between her lips, a DAHL repeater in her left hand.

"That all you got?" She managed between mouthfuls of blood.

1 hour later, at the motel, Jake sat on the bed. He was cleaning his rifle, not because it needed cleaning, but because he needed time to think and it made him look busy.

Lilith was in the bathroom, staring into the mirror and pair of pliers in hand. A shard of glass, about 2 inches by 1, was embedded a cm of two in her gum.

He liked Lilith. He knew it. Everything about her. He'd only known her a few hours, and even then he knew little but her name, but there was something about her he just couldn't resist.

She gripped the shard of glass with the pliers, braced herself, and pulled. It came free, along with a lot of blood. She managed not to scream in agony, but it was difficult.

It was a few things actually. A few things he couldn't resist. The way she swung her hips when she walked, her hair, her face her tits. Everything. He couldn't help himself.

Inspecting the open wound was difficult. There was a lot of blood obscuring it. Deciding it didn't look too bad, Lilith gave herself a quick injection beside it with whatever it was the doctor had given her.

The gun was shining. He'd polished it to perfection. But he still wasn't happy. He couldn't just tell her after a few hours of meeting her. But if he didn't then what if she left?

Lilith emerged from the bathroom with her mouth cleaned up. Jake leaned his shining rifle against the wall as she sat down next to him on the bed they would be sharing tonight.

"It's time I told you how I ended up in the desert"

Jake looked intrigued, but to his credit he did a good job of appearing calm and patient.

"Take it at ya own pace" He said. He didn't want to hurry her.

"Well. I was with my friends at some camp, fighting off bandits. I think"

Jakes interested expression saw no change.

"I was taken prisoner when I was knocked out by a bandit, and woke up one an operating table. I was being injected with stuff, god knows what. Then I was taken to a cell where I found my siren powers wouldn't work. There was a riot and I managed to escape the underground labs and ended up in the desert"

Jake didn't know what to think. The story seemed so far-fetched, but her voice and face, it couldn't be lies.

"When I tried to phasewalk against Crump, I thought it would work. I thought my powers didn't work earlier because I was weak. But now"

Her face grew frustrated.

"Now, they just don't work at all"

It was a lot to take in. He had guessed from the tattoos down her left arm that she was a siren, but now she couldn't access her powers?

"The chemicals" Jake said, as if he'd had a sudden realisation, which he had.

"The chemicals must be blocking the powers"

Lilith looked annoyed.

"Of course they are, but I don't have an antidote"

Jake was deep in thought.

"Then stay with me"

Lilith looked at his face. He showed genuine concern for her. She was surprised.

"I can't. I need to find my friends"

"Ya know the way?"

"No. I don't even know where I am"

"The Dustyards. One of the biggest deserts on Pandora"

"Great"

"So, what ya gonna do now?"

"First, I'm gonna get some cash. Then I'm gonna hit the fast travel network…"

"Can't, its down out here" Jake interrupted.

"The networks down?"

"Yeah, Crumps boys got rid of it. Smashed up every new-U station on the continent"

"Shit"

"Yeah. I know, right"

"So, when I find out which direction I need to travel in, I'm gonna have to drive it"

"If ya wanna get back to ya friends"

"Shit"

"So, how ya planning on getting cash?"

"Well, so far I've got $10,000. I could also sell the 'bloodied rampage'. That looks valuable"

"And it belonged to Crump, that's gotta drive up the price"

"Yeah, but by the time I restock my ammo, get a grenade mod, find a shield, and grab some healing kits I'm gonna be running low"

"And the catch-a-ride ain't working. All vehicles must be built or looted. And to make sure no-one could defeat his forces Crump destroyed most of the shields in the continent. They're extremely rare"

"Wow. This place sucks"

"That's why I'm here"

"Because it sucks?"

"Cos I can make a difference"

"How much does that earn you?"

"Not a lot. And it can be real expensive"

"How do you survive?"

"I raid bandits"

"But don't get paid"

"I loot what I need from them"

"You can find some pretty good stuff if you know where to look"

"That ya can"

"So, now that Crumps dead do you think the bandits will leave Knifepoint alone?"

"Crump was the only reason so many gathered together; he was strong. The bandits came from different backgrounds and many were previously rivals. They all looked up to him and that's what kept them going. Now he's gone, they're gonna be plagued by infighting"

"Hope so, they're a big danger if they don't split up"

"They are. As was said earlier, they've been conquering the continent and harassing Knifepoint for a while"

There was a knock on the door and both Jake and Lilith jumped in surprise. Getting up, Jake walked over and let the Sheriff in.

"Sorry to barge in like this but we got a problem"

Lilith and Jake looked at each other, and then at the sheriff.

"Crump's will no doubt split, but they might not be stayin that way"

"Whys that?" Lilith asked.

"Well, one of his top men was sighted by our snipers near the town. He had some bandits with him that we ain't ever seen before. We think this guy's tryin to hold the clan together. He got slim chances, but with outside interference, he could just pull it off"

"And you want him in the ground?" Jake inquired.

"$5,000 dollars for the kill"

Jake turned to Lilith.

"Ya up for it?"

"Do I really need to answer that one?"

"Then it's settled. You two is gonna head on over to his camp, bout a mile east, an put an end to him"

The sheriff nodded and walked out the door.

"Well…" Jake began.

"Let's go say hi" Lilith finished.


	4. Chapter 4 (Third Party)

**Chapter 4**

**Third Party**

They stood next to each other, silent. One bed. Two people, who barely knew each other. Things were getting pretty awkward.

"So, which side do you want?" Jake asked, rather unsurely.

"Erm, I don't…really…mind" Lilith replied, sounding equally unsure.

"Then…I guess I'll have…the right side, by the window"

There was actually about a metre between the window and the bed.

"And I'll have the left, facing the door" Lilith agreed.

Lilith went into the bathroom while Jake stayed in the room. They both stripped down to their underwear. Jake had black boxer shorts, fairly normal.

Lilith, on the other hand, was wearing the only thing she could get from the clothing shop: pink panties, and a pink, lace bra. Both left very little to the imagination.

They both got into bed and turned away from each other, staying close to the edges of the bed to reduce contact. Try as they might though, the bed was a little on the small side and they still bumped each other quite regularly.

Jake lay still with his back to Lilith, trying to conceal his excitement. Luckily he was successful.

Lilith woke at about 7:00am. She yawned and dragged herself out of bed, walking into the bathroom and preparing for the long day ahead.

Jake lay on his back, snoring quietly. He woke a few minutes after Lilith and also dragged himself out of bed, albeit only when he disappointingly realised that Lilith had done the same.

Both got dressed then met in the car park, loading their weapons into the DAHL chest along with a couple of grenades and the money they couldn't stuff into their wallets.

"So, we head east towards the camp and assault it" Jake said, hoping for some indication that this was indeed the plan.

"That's pretty much it" Lilith responded

"Awright then, les go"

It didn't take long to reach the camp; it was only a mile away. It was also pretty easy to find. The walls were wide and encompassed the camp in a large circle of thin iron. Behind the wall, which had many sizeable holes in it, were several poorly constructed buildings that resembled enlarged sheds. Tents were scattered around where most of the bandits slept.

Something was wrong though. They retrieved their weapons from the green DAHL chest but when they drove up no one responded. Then the paid more attention to the thick smoke emanating from inside the camp. Previously Jake and Lilith had thought it to be from a large bonfire of some description, however, now they weren't sure.

As they left the vehicle outside, they entered the camp through a hole in the wall. The edges of the hole glowed very faintly orange, a sign someone had cut through with some kind of blowtorch.

Taking note of this the duo proceeded to enter the camp. They didn't expect the sight before them.

All the tents were burned to dust or were still burning, the buildings had large chunks blown out of them and hundreds of bandit corpses drowned the destruction in a sea of crimson.

"Well, shit. Looks like someone wen an done our job for us" Jake stated, sounding a little relieved.

"Yeah, but who?"

"Dunno, but whoever did it was good, assuming there wasn't more than one of them"

Lilith walked over to a particularly interesting corpse.

"Look here. Spiked armour, helmet and mask, gun that ain't rusted to shit. Must be our guy"

"Well, he ain't uniting no clans now, not with that many holes in him"

Jake turned and noticed something.

"What's this?"

He walked over and inspected it.

It was a corpse. But it didn't belong to any bandit he'd seen. The body was clad in black armour, with large plates covering the shoulders, shins and chest. Beneath the black armour was a grey suit, woven with Kevlar to provide protection and durability where the armour didn't reach. The helmet was also black, made of the same metal as the plates, with a blue visor roughly in a T shape. The lethal wound was a shot to the neck, although the body had many dents in the armour.

Jake knelt down and inspected the left shoulder plate while Lilith walked over.

"What's do we have here?" He asked, rhetorically.

On the shoulder plate, in white paint to contrast the black metal, was a drawing of a hawk. In its feet it carried a sniper round, long and thin.

"He's is too heavily armoured to be a bandit, right?" Lilith asked, hoping Jake knew more than she did.

"I, um, guess so." He responded, rather uncertainly.

"Hang on"

Lilith walked over to the gun lying beside the body and picked it up, inspecting it closely.

It was black, to match the armour, and had a thin body and barrel. The stock was also small, with a handle incorporated into it, and there was a grip mounted on the lower rail on the front. A silencer was attached to the end of the barrel and a thin red dot sight was mounted on the top rail. The magazine was attached to the left side of the weapon and was long and thin, running the length of the body rather than sticking out.

On the corpse's belt was a pistol, with an equally thin body to the SMG, and a magazine that protruded from the bottom of the handle, indicating an extended capacity. Underneath the end of the body was a laser sight.

Also on the belt of the corpse was a large, round, green grenade with a grey pin sticking out of the top and a 10" combat knife, serrated on the back.

"These aren't manufactured by any company selling weapons on Pandora" Lilith pointed out.

"So ya think they're made by bandits?"

"No. Far too well made. These weapons are manufactured for professionals, like the armour"

"Ya thinking these are off-worlders?"

"What else could they be? Besides, what company would sell such expensive, professional weapons on Pandora? Even DAHL would have trouble matching the quality of this hardware"

"Well then, whatcha think off-worlders are doin on Pandora?"

"Apparently, doing our job for us"

Lilith looked back to the insignia on the left shoulder, holstering the knife as she did so. The off-worlder wasn't going to need it anymore, was he?

"You think we should get back to Knifepoint, ask around and find if anyone knows about this hawk thing?"

"I guess so"

The trip back to Knifepoint didn't take long, and when they returned they left their weapons in the technical. They wouldn't need them in the town and the chest was secure. They went straight to the Sheriff's office.

Something was wrong.

People seemed scared, and many were looking out of windows with expressions of fear. People were crouched in corners with guns, looking around for any sign of trouble.

When Lilith and Jake entered the sheriff's office they saw several people, all armed, looking out of windows. The sheriff was checking his revolver.

He looked up with an expression of surprise.

"Back so soon?"

"We found him dead" Lilith replied.

"Dead? Who killed him?" The sheriff seemed concerned that there was someone powerful enough to infiltrate a bandit camp and kill its leader.

"Not sure. The whole camp was burned down. No survivors on the bandit side, as far as we can tell. But we did see a body, not belonging to them"

"Let me guess, black armour with a hawk holding a sniper round painted on the shoulder?"

Lilith seemed surprised, as did Jake.

"How did you know?" Lilith inquired.

"Same bastards attacked us. Only 5 of em. Took out 12 of my men without suffering a single wound"

"What did they want?"

"They took 10 people prisoner with them"

Lilith just stood, unmoving. Her eyes went wide with fear and realisation.

"The labs…" Her voice trailed off as she had a moment of recall.

_Look up, distorted figure brings down stock of his SMG._

_Everything goes black._

"Shit"

Jake and the sheriff looked at Lilith, concerned.

In her mind, the distorted figure with the SMG began to clear. She could see black armour, the advanced SMGs, and the hawk.

"It was them…" Once again, her voice trailed off.

"What was who? Young lady, ya gonna have to be a lot clearer than that"

"It was them. Jake I know who it was who knocked me out, I know who it was that put me in those labs!" Lilith exclaimed.

"Them off-worlders did that to ya?" Jake seemed to be deep in thought.

"What is ya on about, tha both of ya?" The sheriff's patience was running thin.

"Those armoured guys who took the prisoners, they got advanced hardware you can't get on Pandora. That means they're off-worlders. I also think I know what's going to happen to those prisoners"

"Well what?!" The sheriff had absolutely no patience left, whatsoever.

"They gonna be taken to some underground secret labs for experimentin on" Jake responded.

The sheriff looked deep with concern.

"Where are the labs?"

"We don't know" Lilith confessed.

"Well then, how do ya know about them?"

"Because I was there! I was being experimented on, with dozens of others. We were kept in cells, then dragged out to operating tables and messed with by surgeons. I escaped in a riot"

"Then did any others get away?"

"I don't think so"

"Surely ya must have some idea where these labs are?"

"I don't, I fainted in the desert. Can't remember where though"

"Well then, were gonna need someone to find these labs and put an end to whatever is goin on down there"

"For how much?" Lilith asked.

The sheriff paused for a moment, thinking carefully.

"I'm gonna say, um, $15,000"

"I'll do it"

"Same here" Jake added.

"Awright then, the off-worlders came from the south-east. Maybe ya can find somethin out there"

Lilith and Jake walked out the office and headed to the vending machines. Stocking up on ammo they then headed to the motel. They needed a plan.

Upon entering their room Jake was the first to speak.

"Ya all right?" He asked.

"Yeah. Fine" Lilith replied, sounding anything but.

"Ya don't have to do this ya know"

"I need the money. Besides, you saw their hardware. They've got to have more of that"

Jake just stood, deep in thought. He'd been doing that a lot lately.

"So, what's the plan?" He asked.

"We watch the place from a distance; see how many guards they have. Then we sneak in"

"So, how we gonna watch em"

Lilith looked at him as if the answer was obvious, which it was.

"With a sniper"

"Ya got one?"

"Not yet, I'm gonna go get one"

"Don't bother; I've got a Jakobs in the technical"

"I didn't see it"

"It ain't in the chest; it's under the truck bed"

"Why?"

"Couldn't fit in in the chest"

"So, we got everything we're going to need?"

"I'm guessing so"

"Then let's get this over with"

Lilith walked out the door first, Jake's eyes glued to her swaying hips as she moved. He shook his head and brought himself back to reality before following.

Jake was driving, once again, and they headed to the south-east. It wasn't long before they noticed a large structure in the middle of the empty desert. It was a stone structure, with metal on the corners to reinforce it. The DAHL logo could be seen over the large entrance, indicating this building had stood for quite a while.

Getting out the technical Lilith and Jake retrieved their weapons from the chest, before Jake reached under the truck bed and got his sniper.

The weapon had dull, dirty metal with a wood finish. The barrel was long and thin, with a revolving chamber housing the 6 rounds it fires. The scope was quite long, designed for maximum zoom and the stock was thin and light.

Jake crouched and took aim, sweeping across the ramparts for any sign of hostiles.

He saw no-one.

Putting the sniper back where it belonged he drew his Vladof rifle.

"All clear"

"Then let's do this" Lilith responded, sounding more than a little nervous.

"Ya sure about this. That place looks secure. If we go in then we probably won't be comin back out again"

"$15,000. That's a big reward. Besides, without exterior guards there can't be that many inside, can there?"

"Unless we've just came to the wrong place" Jake suggested, trying to lighten the mood. He failed completely.

"This is the right place. I know it"

"Um, awright then"

The daring duo headed towards the fortress, always watching for any sign of the off-worlders. They approached the large door quietly, looking for a way to open it.

The door was at least 15' tall, made of 5" of solid iron. It had no crack in the middle, instead it lowered into the ground to allow access.

Finding no button on the outside, Lilith and Jake were at a loss. How would they get inside?

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Lilith and Jake turned to see an armoured man. He carried the same equipment as the corpse, with the same insignia.

Lilith and Jake drew their weapons and brought their fingers to the triggers.

The Jake fell to the floor.

_What?_

Lilith felt a sudden pain in the back of her head, then everything went black. Again.


	5. Chapter 5 (The Steel Hawks)

**Chapter 5**

**The Steel Hawks**

Lilith woke slowly, and painfully. She didn't take long to realise that she was lying on the floor, she could tell from the cold, hard stone beneath her.

"Ugh" Lilith rose slowly until she was sitting up, and then noticed the body of Jake beside her.

Jake followed her example, getting slowly up and gaining some limited awareness of his surroundings.

They were in a cell. It was fairly small, with a single bed and a toilet. There was a sink on one of the walls, and the traditional iron bars.

"Good, you're awake"

Lilith and Jake heard the voice and they turned in unison to face a figure standing outside the bars.

He wore medium-blue armour with light brown markings. The front of the helmet was completely taken up with a visor, of deep orange, that jutted forward slightly. On the left side of the chest was the white hawk and sniper round.

"Welcome"

The voice was quite deep, but distinctly eastern European, not that Lilith or Jake knew where this was or how people talked there.

"Um, hi"

Lilith didn't really know how to respond. Jake just sat in silence.

"Hello. Now, I understand you have just woken, but what the fuck where you doing outside my base?"

His voice was calm, but the threat in it was clear.

"Fuck you!" Jake responded.

The figure brought his metal fist into an iron bar with a CLANG. The force bent the bar a few inches.

"YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, AND YOU DIE!" He roared.

"Well what ya gonna do bout' it?" Jake asked, pushing the armoured man further.

The figure relaxed slightly, although it was impossible to tell with the helmet in the way.

"I will take your friend here" He gestured towards Lilith. "And skin her with my 10inch combat blade"

Jake stopped.

"Good. Now, answer my FUCKING QUESTION!"

"We were lost" Lilith lied.

"YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT SHIT? WHAT WERE YOU DOING?"

"Go to hell" Lilith replied.

The large man pulled out his blade and was about to kick down the iron bars when another off-worlder, with the same black armour, came around the corner.

"Sir, its Cardoso. He wants to see you"

The large, blue armoured man turned towards the off-worlder.

"When?" His voice had no patience left in it.

"Now, sir"

"You expect me to take a 3 hour journey on a moment's notice?" His voice grew more irritated.

"Not me, sir. Cardoso"

"Very well"

The blue armoured man walked off with the off-worlder, telling him to inform the guards that he wanted his prisoners kept alive for his return. The off-worlder nodded, enthusiastically.

After the men left the corridor outside the cell Jake turned to Lilith.

"How's ya head?"

"Painful, you?"

"Same. I think I gotta idea to get us outta here"

"What?"

"If we can get one of the bed springs then we could pick the lock"

"You sure that's going to work?"

"Best chance we got"

"Alright, try it then"

Jake reached under the bed and retrieved a rusty bed spring. It wasn't hard to snap out of place. He walked up to the bars and looked carefully to the right and left, checking for guards. Seeing none he proceeded to attempt to pick the lock. He tried for several minutes, resulting in nothing but failure. And more failure.

"Give It up, it won't work" Lilith complained.

"Sure it will, ya gotta be patient"

"We don't have time to be patient. Any moment now a guard could come down that corridor"

There was a quiet click and the bars slid to the left, opening a gap about a metre wide.

Jake turned to Lilith with a smug grin, and walked out into the corridor. Lilith sighed and followed.

They stuck close to each other, creeping quietly through the maze of corridors that comprised the interior of the DAL fortress. With only the occasional crate for cover they relied purely on the luck and the guards being as lost as they were to get around undetected. Jake suddenly stopped and pointed forwards.

There were 2 guards. Both with the black armour. One was a few metres in front of the other.

Jake motioned for Lilith to stay in cover behind a crate and crept towards the nearest guard. Both were looking away from Jake.

Lilith sat and quietly prayed that Jake wouldn't make any noise. They couldn't afford any fuck ups.

Jake grabbed the man's head in both hands and twisted to it the left, snapping his neck. He pulled the guards knife out of its sheath and stepped forwards, bringing it into the side of the other guard's neck. He dropped to the ground, as dead as his colleague.

"How was that?" Jake asked sarcastically, smiling widely.

"Show off" was his answer.

"So, ya think we should take their armour, sneak out in disguise?" Jake asked, this time genuine.

"No time. Just take their equipment"

Lilith and Jake equipped themselves with a 10inch combat knife, one frag grenade, a pistol and an SMG each. All of the weaponry was of an unknown manufacture.

Lilith turned to Jake, gripping the thin SMG tightly in both hands.

"Let's go"

They turned the next corner into a new section of corridor and froze.

They stared into the glass visor of an off-worlder. The man held an SMG in his gloved hands.

He raised the weapon as Jake and Lilith both opened fire, spraying him with dozens of small, piercing SMG rounds. He shook violently, his armour absorbing most of the shots fired, and fell on his back with a loud clang, blood leaking from his neck.

Jake and Lilith looked up to see another, black armoured, off-worlder turn around the corner. He shouted something down the comms before receiving the same treatment as his colleague.

Alarms began to sound as the off-worlder on the other end of the comm-link alerted the base to the prisoner's escape.

"Shit" Lilith swore.

"Yup. We gonna die" Jake seemed to lose little hope, sounding rather sarcastic.

"We've gotta get out of here" Lilith pointed out, somewhat obviously.

"Way ahead of ya"

The pair ran down the corridor, past the bullet filled corpses. They reloaded as they did so, dropping the empty clips and inserting a new one into the side of the gun. It seemed odd that the clip didn't stick out, instead running the length of the body and some of the barrel.

They came to a door and opened it, immediately scanning the room for hostiles. They saw no one.

Locking the door behind them they saw a huge holographic screen covering the wall opposite the door, with a desk in between them and the screen. Walking up to the desk they saw a computer on it. This was clearly the office of the man in blue armour.

Lilith and Jake leaned over the keyboard, and numerous pieces of paper, and looked at the screen. There was no security asking for a password, instead there was a list of every member of the off-worlders clan and a dossier on them.

Lilith looked at the extensive list and scrolled up to the top of the page.

"The Steel Hawks" She muttered.

"And they are?" Jake inquired.

"The off-worlders we're fighting. Apparently they're a mercenary group, hired by only the richest"

"So, we're fighting an off-world mercenary group called the Steel Hawks, that happen to be one of the most expensive and professional groups out there?"

"Apparently so"

"Well, that would explain the armour and gear"

"Yeah, says here they make their own"

"Great but, do we have a way out?" Jake asked, sounding impatient.

"I guess we're just gonna have to shoot our way out"

"Great. Fucking great"

"Well, have you got any better ideas?" Lilith was also getting impatient now.

"I ran out when the alarm was sounded"

"Then we might as well find out everything we can about these guys while we can. Maybe we can find something about this place and the location of the exit while we're at it"

"Then hurry up Lil, we can't hide forever"

Lilith searched the dossiers for a few minutes, before making a discovery.

"Hey Jake, I think I found the blue guy"

"Who?" Jake now sounded much more enthusiastic.

"Makar Kolesnikov, leader of the Steel Hawks. From Eastern Europe, somewhere on earth. Dangerous man. Reputation for excessive brutality"

"Gets better and better, don't it?" Jake asked, somewhat sarcastically.

Lilith looked for a few more minutes before turning to Jake.

"Nothing more of any use, time to go"

Jake smiled unenthusiastically.

"After you"

Lilith led the way as they continued down the corridors, dodging patrols frequently. At last they came out into a large courtyard with several vehicles. Among them was Jake's technical.

"Well, we got a way out" Lilith smiled genuinely. This had been easier than she thought.

"Engage all hostiles!" Came a shout as several Steel Hawks vaulted over cover and charged towards Jake and Lilith, firing their SMGs.

Jake and Lilith dived behind a pile of tires, cursing their lack of foresight.

"I'll take the right, you take the left!" Lilith told Jake, leaning out of cover and returning fire.

She took out one in a spray of bullets before ducking back behind cover.

Jake managed the same, albeit with more misses.

The remaining 3 Steel Hawks grouped together and headed to the right. Lilith spun around to take out one, and did, but suffered as a bullet grazed her upper right arm.

"Agh" she cried out, in pain.

Jake went around the tires and took out a Steel Hawk with a well-placed spray to the side of his head.

The other turned to face Jake as Lilith emerged from cover. The Steel Hawk was about to fire on a reloading Jake as Lilith emptied the last 17 rounds in her mag into his neck, chest and head. He died.

"Fuck, we did it!" Jake seemed genuinely surprised.

"It's not over yet though" Lilith responded.

"Whatcha mean?"

"We gotta finish off this place. See that gas pipe. I'll shoot it as we drive off. The chain reaction of explosions should take out a large chunk of the fortress"

"Awright then"

Jake hopped in the driver seat, Lilith in the passenger. As he drove off she put a few accurate shots into the pipe. As predicted, it exploded. More explosions began further down the pipe until fire sprayed out of the open doors of the fortress with an earth shattering boom.

Lilith, using the side mirror she'd only just noticed the technical possessed, looked back at the burning fortress.

"Aww, did that hurt?"


End file.
